


Rolling

by Domenika Marzione (domarzione)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Driving, Friendship, Gen, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4234269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domarzione/pseuds/Domenika%20Marzione
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's history behind the wheel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rolling

Steve learns to drive while on his USO bond tours, quick lessons by the girls during the 'wait' phases of their hurry-up-and-wait schedule. 

The first time is hours before a show at the Indiana State Fair, Dottie and Millie and Alice drag him over to Freddie-the-tour-manager's LaSalle -- Dottie got the keys nobody knows how -- and stuff him into the driver's seat. Dottie's in the front with him and Alice and Millie in the back, all three of them pointing and talking over each other until Alice, right behind him, gets the other girls to pipe down. As Dottie and Millie relax and smoke away from the fans and the USO folks -- privacy and peace are a luxury rarely afforded -- Alice leans over the seat so she can talk near his left ear. She tells him where to put his hands, what the pedals are by his feet, and how to steer into a turn. Her voice is low and sultry even when she's talking about train schedules, but here, in competition with Dottie and Millie, it sounds downright dirty as she makes driving a car sound just like making love to a woman. 

(Even more than she knows, Steve thinks, because his first few times with a woman were pretty much following step-by-step instructions murmured in his ear, too.) 

He mimes steering and braking and applying the gas -- the car's got a Hydra-Matic and he doesn't need to learn about gear-shifting -- until, with Alice's approval, Dottie finally hands over the keys. Alice gives him instructions for how to start the car, which roars to life like a proud lion and draws attention, least not from Freddie, who comes running over already shouting. "Drive! Drive!" Millie and Dottie shout out between their giggles and Steve tries, the car shooting into motion hard enough to dislodge Alice and throw her against the back of her seat. He winds up taking them on a ten-mile-per-hour getaway that doesn't actually get away very far because they have to be on stage in three hours. Which is also the reason none of them are fired. 

By the time they get to Europe, Steve can drive slowly during daylight on empty roads, but there's nowhere to practice because they're on the front now and their tour bus can't go anywhere without a convoy to escort them. He doesn't get his next lessons until he's a real soldier, driving a jeep around a low-density part of Lakenheath with Bucky riding shotgun and alternately giving him instructions and sitting scrunched down with his hands over his eyes. And sometimes both at once. It's only partially about the driving; this is one of the only times he and Bucky have been alone together since before everything and they need this, to learn each other all over again because so much is different. But they can't say that out loud, so it's about the driving, which Bucky learned to do in the Army and thus Steve feels entitled to point out that he doesn't know too much more than Steve does. 

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," Bucky tells him airily. "And I drove plenty before we went to Italy."

When the Howling Commandos finally get on the road, however, Steve does very little driving. Dugan enjoys it and is strong enough to easily handle the trucks they often use, so the job is his unless they need his shotgun. But sometimes when they're all worn down and exhausted and pushed too far, Bucky pulls the team sergeant card and insists on driving and Steve rides up front with him, the boys in the back getting some much-needed rest, and it's nice. 

In the future, cars come with power steering, which Steve admits is a huge improvement even if it takes him a while to get used to it. He doesn't like modern cars, though -- they're tiny and fragile-feeling and he feels vulnerable in them, like a chick inside an eggshell. He gets a motorcycle and uses that instead because with a motorcycle, there's no pretending: you are always vulnerable. He wears the risk of the bike much more easily than he does the inside the lightweight chassis of the cars that everyone reminds him (with rolled eyes) have to pass safety standards and come with airbags. 

He bursts out laughing the first time he sees a Smartcar, which he refuses to believe is a real, available-to-consumers vehicle and not a toy. His disbelief eventually leads to a viewing of _The Italian Job_ and a grudging admission that tiny cars have their merits. But until he needs to turn to a life of crime to support his lifestyle, he tells Clint, he's sticking to the bike. 

The first time he goes anywhere in a car with Bucky in the future, Bucky drives because, he tells Steve, he still doesn't trust him behind the wheel. Steve still doesn't believe him, but there are different reasons for not talking about it, so it's about the driving. 

**Author's Note:**

> [This was originally posted to Tumblr](http://laporcupina.tumblr.com/post/91975005369/captain-america-drabble-rolling) if you'd like to like or reblog there.


End file.
